Swifts need our help

swifts need our help!

Reminding you I'm giving a lecture this evening in Galway city hall at 7pm 'The Secret Life of the Common Swift'

swifts need our help!

so disappointed with the turn out. All that way for only 6 people. Never again

Capercaille

swifts need our help! wrote: »

so disappointed with the turn out. All that way for only 6 people. Never again

You have a great organisation there. Don't give up the fight. If those 6 people put up swift nest boxes then it was worth the trip.

swifts need our help!

Thanks.

What I discovered as Yeats School on College Rd, Galway has at least 10 pairs of swifts

jmkennedyie

swifts need our help! wrote: »

Thanks.

When I asked if they are aligned I should have asked if they are aligned with the upper edge of the louvre and not the under side

Bummer on the turnout, but I was inspired by a talk from your group at Lough Neagh a year or two ago and will continue when the rest of our building sorted out. So you never know.

Not sure if this is going to help clarify things but as I recall the bottom of the hole is a few mill above the top of the inner end of the wooden slat 'below'...and the top of the whole is a few mill below the bottom of the inner end of the wooden slat 'above' (!)

swifts need our help!

Does it look like the last photo on this page
http://www.magikbirds.com/image.asp?title_id=1090&search=0&show_thumbnails=False

cameramonkey

saw about 8 swifts near the canal in Harolds Cross Dublin today. Very nice to see and hear them.

Desmo

swifts need our help! wrote: »

Does it look like the last photo on this page
http://www.magikbirds.com/image.asp?title_id=1090&search=0&show_thumbnails=False

Fantastic looking set up!

jmkennedyie

swifts need our help! wrote: »

Does it look like the last photo on this page
http://www.magikbirds.com/image.asp?title_id=1090&search=0&show_thumbnails=False

No. That has clear flight path to entrances - mine doesn't as it's more of a shuffle between louvres up to the entrance. And I can't make it more accessible without removing louvres which I don't want to do. Local swifts flying around the tower occassionally at the moment so will see what happens and will focus on better location for next year.

swifts need our help!

Better to leave it because swifts will not recognise a nest entrance that has been moved. If the nest entrance sits in the same position as the link but it has to move between louvres that's OK

angeldaisy

Just spent some time outside watching at least 8 swifts flying around outside, lovely to watch. Unfortunately though their nest from last year has been comandeered by sparrows this year!

Does this mean that the swifts won't use that nest again? ?

swifts need our help!

I'd say the swifts will put the sparrows out

swifts need our help!

My three pairs from last year are now 5 pairs and a single trying to get its mate to enter the nest box

swifts need our help!

Non breeders have arrived. If you haven't already started its time to play your calls

I now have three pairs incubating and two pairs that laid their first eggs yesterday

Capercaille

Article about Swifts in Sunday's Irish Independent. Northern Ireland Swift Group got a big mention.

swifts need our help!

Is this it? http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/will-a-swift-response-save-the-devil-s-bird-1.1419743 Always good to get a mention

I could have written a better one!

"shuffling around on their breasts in narrow crevices, as their feet can hardly support them " Rubbish. Watch a swift run
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1LsaLFKT88

swifts need our help!

Over the last few days non breeding swifts have arrived from Europe or Africa. Their aim is to find out who lives in the boxes and which are free. You can clearly hear the two tone call of the pairs inside the nest boxes staking their claim. These are incubating eggs already. The non breeders are also known as bangers because they literally knock on nest sites to see if they are occupied. Non breeders can be 1st, 2nd or 3rd years birds or breeding age, 3+, without a nest site. One of my swifts has been around since 2011. It has a distinct squeaky call. Last year it used lots of empty boxes until it found a mate started nest building in one box. This year they came home very late on May 31st. Eight days later they have their first egg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaAohabkhAM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaAohabkhAM

For the last few days only one swift has been using the box on the left. Another has been using the middle box. This screaming is either an intruder or a pair that are not at ease with each other. The battery ran out of power and by the time I went out again all was quiet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlINk8LY4Pw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlINk8LY4Pw&feature=youtu.be

swifts need our help!

Someone please remind me how to insert links to youtube videos

Clap your handsay yeah

Hey there, I will be getting zeist nest boxes made up soon and will be installing them on the back of our house, before I go any further though I wanted to find out if power lines that are running parallel to the back of our house would be a problem for any swifts. The lines are just over 45ft from the back wall and 2ft lower than where the boxes would be positioned as we live on a hillside.

If all's well and good with that could someone tell me if the boxes needed to be a certain thickness such as the 12mm stated on the zeist plans or could I use a thinner ply.

Thanks for reading, hope I can get these all setup soon

swifts need our help!

Don't make a Zeist box unless you are great at DIY. A plain box is perfect. The entrance must be no more than 30mm high and 60-65mm wide. 12mm ply should be good. 'paint' the outside of the box with cuprinol. Start with a double to triple nest box because swifts will fight over nest sites
Are you aware that will only come if you have the lure playing? http://saveourswifts.co.uk/attractswifts.htm

Power lines should be a problem

swifts need our help!

forgot the photos

Clap your handsay yeah

That's great thanks for the info we will go with your design instead will make things a lot simpler, I'm assuming that's a typo about the power lines, might need correcting just in case.

I'm aware of the lure that needs playing yep just need to buy everything now, cheers Mark.

swifts need our help!

oops yes they shouldn't be a problem

swifts need our help!

A friend went fishing to Foxford, Co Mayo this week and says he has never seen so many swifts in his life. They were flying around and entering nests around the walls of the chapel in Foxford. I think this is it http://www.saintmichaelschurchfoxford.com/

Desmo

hi Mark: I was talking (on a bird list) to a guy who works in Trinity College (TCD) about Swifts. There used to be a big colony in the Museum building in the centre of the college but that has been under external renovation for ages. The guy I was talking to suggested that nest boxes be put up next Feb during TCD "Green Week". Any chance you can put me on your mailing list and/or PM me your e-mail address? I will pm you my e-mail. Either we can check out the existing building for current nesters and if none are there, lure them there next May OR put up new boxes anyway. It used to have dozens of pairs in the 1980s, nesting in the decorative stonework.
Des

Ulmus

The Museum Building is very ornate, walls of Wicklow granite and Portland Stone. I doubt you would get permission for swift nest boxes. Worth a try though and there are other suitable buildings on the Trinity campus.

swifts need our help!

This is what nesting swifts are up against. I know of one building where all holes in a stone building were filled in during the breeding season

Scaffolding is bad but mesh covered scaffolding is a swift killer

Someone should have alerted the campus and builders to the fact. There are three recent cases in the north we have been involved in. One the scaffolding had to come down immediately. Another had to have a large section of scaffold planks removed and for the other work had to be rushed before swifts returned

Desmo

Ulmus wrote: »

The Museum Building is very ornate, walls of Wicklow granite and Portland Stone. I doubt you would get permission for swift nest boxes. Worth a try though and there are other suitable buildings on the Trinity campus.

There were dozens of pairs nesting in the building up until recently; I saw one bird enter a nesting hole this afternoon so there may stil be nesting swifts there. If so, nest boxes may not be needed. There are about 100 nest holes already there,

Des

swifts need our help!

By nest hole do you means holes in stone work or under eaves?

Maybe I should drive down for a look before swifts leave for Africa

Desmo

swifts need our help! wrote: »

By nest hole do you means holes in stone work or under eaves?

Maybe I should drive down for a look before swifts leave for Africa

It is the Museum Building
http://isservices.tcd.ie/avms/photocentre/gallery/m57.jpg
which overlooks the main playing fields. The photo above shows the east end, where the Swifts used to live, mainly. There are about 50 holes (purpose unknown (to me anyway)) in the stonework, underneath the ledge, half way up the building. During renovation, the birds moved to the opposite (West) end which has a further 50 . The renovation was only supposed to take 6 months but the contractor changed and it ended up with scaffolding and the dreaded green netting, for 2 or more years. If you give me a shout, I will be happy to show you.

The good news for now is that I saw one hole at the west end still beng used, on Sunday. I will check again tonight with a friend from TCD Zoology dept.

Des